Spring in New Hampshire

Spring, 2020

This Beckham Classic Reprint of Jamaica-born Claude McKay’s 1921 volume of poetry brings one of the major Harlem Renaissance writers of the 1920s back to public recognition. The title poem “Spring in New Hampshire,” contrasts the hard work that his fellow West Indian immigrant friends were accustomed to with the lush beauty of the New England countryside. McKay became famous for his protest poem about racial violence, “If We Must Die,” depicting the theme of fighting violence with violence. Winston Churchill used those lines in his address to the United States Congress to urge the country to join World War II.

Critics reviewed his three fiction collections novels quite favorably – Hometo Harlem, Banjo and Banana Bottom,and the short story collection, Home to Harlem, was the most popular.